Feminist Film Theory and Pretty Woman [Mīkstie vāki]

"An overview of feminist film theory and how it explicates Pretty Woman"--

Feminist Film Theory and Pretty Woman offers a concise introduction to feminist film theory since the 1970s until the present day, illustrating how this theory can be used to interpret the Hollywood box-office hit Pretty Woman. Mari Ruti traces the development of feminist film theory from its foundational concepts such as the male gaze, female spectatorship, and the masquerade of femininity to 21st-century analyses of neoliberal capitalism, consumerism, postfeminism, and the revival of “girly” femininity as a cultural ideal. Ruti applies the feminist current film theory criticizing a film for its investment in patriarchal ideology and its explicit sexism. By interpreting Pretty Woman as a movie that defies easy categorization as either feminist or antifeminist, the book counters the all-too-common critical dismissal of romantic comedies as mindless drivel preoccupied with trivial “feminine” concerns such as love and shopping. The book's lucid presentation of the key concerns of feminist film theory, along with its balanced reading of Pretty Woman, shed light on a Hollywood genre often overlooked by film critics: the romantic comedy.

An overview of feminist film theory and how it explicates Pretty Woman.